For six months, commuters traveling the Veterans Bridge into downtown have followed the progress of Kevin Hix and wife Jennifer Caruthers as they added a second floor to their home at the corner of Barton Avenue and Crewdson Street.
“A lot of people stopped and asked about it,” said Mr. Hix, “especially when we were building the stone retaining wall. There are boulders from 3,000 to 5,000 pounds stacked on each other. People’d walk up and ask, ‘Where’d you get boulders that big?'”
The home’s arts-and-crafts architecture and prime location near the North Shore caught the attention of the couple, who lived in Atlanta for 12 years. Its central location as a home office within the four states in which he does business for LSI Corp. was another selling point, said Mr. Hix.
“I like being able to walk and ride my bicycle to community events like Nightfall and Riverbend. I like that lifestyle of being able to get out and take your dog on a walk,” he said. “We chose to renovate because we came here to stay indefinitely.”
They bought the circa-1918 home at 301 Crewdson for $290,000, then began to gut and remodel the house through a combination of contracted help and their own sweat equity.